Do They Really Breathe Fire?
by LightWingDragon
Summary: Set a month after Willows rampage, R&R. Something new comes into town. Some Romance, more than one pairing. W/X B/S
1. Prologue: Weird Dreams and Cornflakes

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy or its characters, the same for Panzer Dragoon Saga, the inspiration for this story  
  
Do They Really Breath Fire?  
  
Prologue.  
  
Buffy walked along in one of Sunnydale's many cemeteries, only this time Buffy didn't know which she was in, but it seemed familiar.  
  
The cemetery was covered with a thick fog, Buffy could barely see, but the occasional silhouette of a headstone let her know she hadn't wandered out of the cemetery. What was strange about tonight, was that Buffy had no weapons with her, and neither did she seem to care, she just seemed to want to walk onward.  
  
The cemetery was deathly quiet, usually, it was quiet in cemeteries, but you could hear insects, the wind, the rustling of trees and bushes, and on occasion, an owl. But tonight all she could hear was her own breathing. Not even a vampire could sneak up on her, the noise of it clothes rustling alone would be heard in the silence.  
  
Buffy wasn't looking for vampires to stake of demons to slay either, she knew she was looking for something, but for some reason the details escaped her. But her current lack of memory wasn't bothering her, she was there for a reason, she knew that much.  
  
The fog was thickening as she walked, and she finally reached a small headstone. Its form slowly appearing in front of her out of the thick white fog.  
  
The fog thickening by the second, she could see no further than a couple of steps in any direction. It appeared like the world was shrinking around her. The moisture in the air was vaguely like that of getting out the shower, and breathing in the steam, only this was cold.  
  
Buffy decided to sit on the headstone, she didn't know why, she wasn't tired, and it wouldn't help her tell where she was.  
  
By now, she rarely looked at the name on the headstones she sat on, after the tenth time you look at the name, then a few minutes later a vampire pops out the grave, and you have to kill it while knowing it name and age, it got depressing. But tonight she checked the new looking headstone in the dim light anyway.  
  
The headstone was blank. No name or other writing was on the stone of any kind, the headstone seemed completely as new, not a smear of dirt, a chip or a scratch, but the earth around the grave was undisturbed, as if it had been placed there only as a convenient seat.  
  
Buffy sat back down on the unmarked stone, and looked up; she saw only fog, and a small faint light of the moon, barely recognisable, in the blur of the mist.  
  
Then suddenly the flapping of huge wings, the beat slow and constant, filled the air and broke the total silence, each beat of the wings echoed for several seconds making it seem as though there was several creatures in the sky, and then a large dark shadowy form past over Buffy's head. Buffy didn't know whether or not the dark creatures outline was its shadow or its dark form in the fog.  
  
The fog swirled because of the breeze created by the beast's nature given way of staying airborne. For a moment the moon became clearer, the heavy air displaced.  
  
It, whatever it was, flew above Buffy in a wide arc then moved off in the direction it had come, or sounded so, it was impossible to tell by sight. In her brief sight of it Buffy had seen it had large wings, a pointed head, and a long agile tail, and may or may not have seen a faint green light, as the apparition flew overhead.  
  
The sound of the air being manipulated by the monster's strong limbs echoed in the distance for a few more seconds then ceased to be. The fog stilled, and once again became a white, unmoving soup.  
  
Buffy was surprisingly nonchalant after seeing it, and looked back to the ground, where the mist had begun to clear, and decided it was time to start walking again, she stood and began to walk away.  
  
After a few steps, she had felt compelled to turn and look back, the headstone she had been sitting on, now looked old, weathered and cracked; Buffy doubted it could now support her weight, without crumbling to dust.  
  
Buffy had seen many weathered tombstones and crypts, and had learned to estimate with relative accuracy the age of things in a cemetery, and this stone was now at least 150 years old. Also, instead of untouched ground, the grave was open, freshly dug.  
  
Buffy walked to the headstone again, and looked at where the writing should be, this time there was writing, a lot, but it had faded like the memory of a book read long ago, only a few words could be made out: 'forgotten, wings, chosen one' and near the bottom 'Hellmouth', the rest had faded, and was never going to be read again.  
  
Buffy turned her attention from the writing and looked into the deep black hole; mist seemed to be creeping into the grave, as if being sucked in by an unknown force. But as she looked, she began to see a faint green light; it got brighter and brighter, until it was bright enough to light the area around the grave.  
  
It then floated up from the grave, and Buffy could see it was a small golf ball sized centre with a cloud of green with an almost water like mist, she could tell it was not water, because wisps of the substance were trailing off of the ball like small sprouts of smoke. The core was bright, and the mist around it also seemed to give of its own glow, though less impressive. It stopped dead still, level with Buffy's face, it felt as though the sphere of energy was looking at her.  
  
The fog had lost its pure white and now begun to faintly glow a light greenish blue. It also starting swirling as if there was a light breeze, but the deadly silence, and stillness of the air remained.  
  
Buffy suddenly felt compelled to touch the light, she didn't know why, and just lifted he arm and went to touch it. Her fingertips moved through the outer mist layer with ease, but there was a feeling of static electricity, like one would feel when putting their palm against a TV screen. The mist swirled in and around her hand, her fingertips touched the core of the light then, a bright green flash blinded Buffy. And there was a voice, it echoed through the silence like it was said in an empty theatre, the voice was deep, appearing to be a man's voice, and he spoke in a way someone would talk to themselves, quiet and thoughtful. Buffy had never heard the voice before. "It was an ominous light, someone once said" the disembodied voice echoed. Buffy had a gut feeling that the man who spoke those words, was from the past, and long dead now.  
  
Then the intense light vanished, replaced by blurriness, and white, it took Buffy a few seconds to realise she was looking at her bedroom ceiling.  
  
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She realised she had just had a dream, a very strange dream, and it was now morning, however the weirdness of the dream suddenly hit Buffy, and she lie and thought about it for several minutes, but unable to make sense of it, finally decided to get up. And vowed never again to eat day old reheated pizza again.  
  
It was reasonably early on Saturday morning; the weather seemed good by the light coming through the curtains, it appeared to be sunny.  
  
It had been a month now, since Tara had died and Willow had gone on a rampage, since then, Xander had been spending most of his time with her, or around her in general. He had reclaimed the title of being Willows best friend again. He now worked the evening shifts, so when he was at work Buffy was there to stay with Willow. Xander slept between the time he got home in the early hours of the morning, until just before Willow returned from her morning classes she was taking at college to make up lost progress, which was usually just after noon.  
  
Willow herself, had been dealing quite well, the first week had been the worst, she hadn't really stopped crying or apologizing, but after the first week, they had finally got it through to her that they didn't blame her. Xander's care had helped immensely, at the end of the day, Xander knew Willow better than everyone else, even more than Tara. Xander had took Willow back to his place after saving her on the mountain, he had comforted her there, he left a message on Buffy's answer machine, and Buffy had made sure the rest of the gang were okay, and called him back. Once Buffy had told him about their other friends, and them being alright, Buffy had asked about Willow, and Xander said she was back, and safe. He had said the "She's safe" with an absolution that told Buffy that was how it was going to stay.  
  
Meanwhile Buffy had been getting out of her depressions and had also focused a lot of her attention on Willow, but also Dawn, and even beginning to teach her how to fight.  
  
Giles and Anya had spent time organising and supervising the reconstruction of the shop. Luckily the insurance investigation had not disproved their story about a gas leak and explosion, as no other evidence could be found to prove another theory.  
  
And Buffy had also noticed, a couple or cigarette butts around her front lawn, so either spike was back, or some people had decided to make a collection of cigarette butts on her lawn for the sake of it, perhaps some drunks had decided to build a monument of some kind, but its unlikely. Buffy doubted there were any real tobacco god worshipers, but if there was, she had no idea why they would chose her front lawn as their holy land.  
  
Buffy had been surprised to find spike missing, and after she failed to find him after a couple of weeks decided he had left, for good or not she hadn't known, but she had doubted he would stay away for long, he never did. However his lack of appearance since his apparent return was an obvious sign to her that he didn't want to talk or see them for now, so unless she was in need of him, she would leave him alone until he showed himself.  
  
After Buffy was dressed she went down for breakfast, as it was still early there was only Xander there, waiting for Willow to wake up, so he wouldn't leave her to fall too deeply into depression, it was routine now. Xander practically lived there.  
  
Buffy had asked him if he should leave willow with some breathing space and he had said that if she was irritated at him, she couldn't be extremely upset over Tara at the same time, it made sense, although so far willow seemed to want the attention, and not to be alone, Xander was all to willing to give it to her.  
  
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However, there was something out of the ordinary, instead of sitting eating breakfast in front of the TV still half asleep, he was today, alert and seemed interested in the news presenter on the screen, as Buffy drew closer he turned to speak to her. Buffy neglected to tell him about the cornflake stuck to his chin.  
  
"Mornin' Buff" Xander began "I've been watching the news, and it looks like there's a new demon, or possibly a new big bad in town." He said, pointing in the direction of the screen. He looked serious, but it was hard to take him seriously while he looked like he was turning into a cornflake man with messy hair.  
  
"Really? What's the news? What does it look like?" Buffy was interested, it wasn't often new demons were on the news; most demons kept a low profile, especially bad ones. She managed not to smirk at Xander's appearance.  
  
"Apparently, last night, a group of people saw this big flying thing, apparently huge, and had huge wings and a tail, they also say something about a faint green light, but they didn't sound too sure, anyway, these people were not drunk or high, but they are high school kids, they're not taking them seriously, but as you know, a story that turns out to be a prank is far less likely than a story that turns out to be true in this town." Xander explained, with a grin at the end. His explanation was funny to watch as he tried to balance his bowl of cornflakes on his chest. "No real leads though, so not much to go on" he added as an after thought.  
  
Buffy was stunned, it sounded remarkably similar to whatever it was she saw in her dream, and the green light, it couldn't be a coincidence, there was definitely something going on.  
  
"What's Wrong Buff?" Xander asked, or tried to, with a mouthful of cornflakes. 


	2. Chapter 1: Ciagarettes and Coffee

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy or its characters, the same for Panzer Dragoon Saga, the inspiration for this story  
Do They Really Breathe Fire?  
  
Chapter 1.  
  
The Gang had assembled at the Summers residence. This had become the new base of operations, since the magic box had been trashed.  
  
They were sat in the living room, Willow, Xander and Dawn on the sofa, in that order, and Giles and Anya sat in chairs, Buffy stood, and occasionally leaned against the wall. Stacks and boxes full of books from the shop had been piled around. Luckily not many of the books the Scooby gang used for research had been lost; it was more a case of digging them out of the rubble.  
  
Giles had rented a small apartment, he had stored more books there, but since it was a very small place, there was little room for storage, while still being habitable.  
  
After Xander had told Buffy about what he had seen on the news, she had told him about her strange dream, and he agreed it seemed more than coincidental, actually his exact words were more like:  
  
"What is it with this weird crap coming to you in dreams?" "And why is it always the worst stuff, why can't you have a dream about a demon that wants to send us on vacation, or, um, uh, never mind" he had ranted, cornflakes flying from his mouth.  
  
After which, Buffy had given him an odd look.  
  
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It was time to form a plan of action; they had no doubt there would be much research and searching of books. But maybe they would get lucky and Giles would know it off the top of his head, it didn't happen often with the rare kinds of demons, it would be unreasonable for the watchers council to expect watchers to memorize all demon types, it would quite probably be impossible for a human to do, it was possible that Giles would know what the creature was.  
  
Buffy had just finished describing the creature, and all eyes turned to Giles, who took this as a prompt.  
  
"I have never heard of a demon like this before, however this green light sounds, interesting, a good place to start researching." Giles said while cleaning his glasses, the disappointment was evident; the gang knew this meant a lot of work.  
  
"I could look on the net, to see if there have been any other sightings of the creature." Willow suggested from her place on the couch next to Xander. Out of all the people in the room, Willow was probably the least disappointed with the task of research; it was a distraction, something that was welcome, thinking about things hurt.  
  
"Hmm, yes, it is odd for a demon to draw attention to itself, especially without death and destruction, this demon may have revealed itself for a reason, and if not there could be a trail of sightings. It may just be careless" Giles agreed while replacing his glasses.  
  
"I saw it in a dream, so its bound to something big, or a sign of something big to come, but what bothers me is that it can fly, that will give it an advantage in a fight" Buffy summarised  
  
"Precisely. And we have no idea of its powers yet" Giles Added. They never tried to find a demon to kill it without knowing something about it first, unless confronting it was absolutely necessary.  
  
"I hope this isn't going to delay the work on the shop" Anya added her own concerns, but no one took any notice.  
  
Xander, in one of his very occasional moments of military inspired tactic observation, which had been becoming fewer and further between since the Halloween he had become a soldier, realised something:  
  
"It could be a trap, it could to be trying to get Buffy's attention, and wants to be tracked down" Xander suggested, the rest looked mildly surprised by his insight.  
  
"That's an interesting theory, now that you mention it, it does seem possible that it could want Buffy to notice it, trying to lure her perhaps, we'll have to be careful about finding the creature, and it could be expecting us." Giles expanded, and decided his glasses needed another cleaning.  
  
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After none of the gang could think of anything more that was useful, they started the research. After about 10 minutes Dawn had become bored and wandered off. After another 45 minutes Willow had found nothing to speak of, and Xander had noticed her attention was drifting, and her typing had slowed, and he had seen her face turn grim. He had known she was thinking about Tara, none of the others had noticed. He had spent a while thinking of a way to distract her thoughts, without bringing it up in front of the others. Xander had been sitting with his chair tilted on its back legs, and after rocking back and forth a few more times, got an idea.  
  
With a quick glance behind him, to make sure it was safe, and a quick look around the table to check none of them were watching, he had let go of the table and the chair flew back, crashing to the floor with him on it.  
  
"Owww" Xander moaned before getting up, the laughter had already started even willow was giggling. 'Hehe, and no one noticed I did it on purpose, Haris you're a genius, or as close to a genius as you can be when your not that smart, hmm, maybe more resourceful then genius' Xander had babbled to himself as he had picked up the chair and sat back down.  
  
"Xander, you bloody idiot, didn't I warn you just last week that you shouldn't swing on chairs" Giles had said, through short snorts of laughter.  
  
'That's right, he did, perhaps it's more random memory than resourcefulness, oh well' Xander had thought, and looked over to willow who was smiling slightly as she typed away at her usual speed. 'But skilful none the less' He had thought with a smile 'mission accomplished'  
  
Now, ten minutes later, the table was again calm, Willow was still typing away, and the others reading. I was just gone noon, it was a hot summer day, and the sun beamed through the windows, a curtained had been pulled across on the window closest to the table, to stop the sunlight getting in the way of the research going on. The air conditioning made the interior of the house cool, in comparison to the scorching heat outside. At the moment the gang were quietly researching, none were really in the mood for idle chat. So it was a small surprise when suddenly Willow stopped typing, and clicking with her mouse, and addressed the group.  
  
"I think I've got something" She said simply, the others crowded round her laptop screen, at one time, years ago, this many people crowding around her would have made her nervous.  
  
"Here, there are several sightings of a large bird in the night, at several locations, and also nearby, there have been, uh, a few strange things" Willow said finishing with the best answer she could think of.  
  
"Here in a farming town, that can't be more than 200 miles from here, a large bird was seen by farmers one night 4 days ago" She clicked to a new screen, "In this town, that is closer to here, three nights ago, a drunk claims to have seen a huge bat, and a strangely, "arrows of light in the sky" she quoted from the article. "This was reported only by an amateur reporter because the witness was 'unreliable', but the reporter claims to have seen scorch marks on a field near the sighting of the lights, but no real evidence was found" She changed to another screen, "A small village, a girl being chased by some men hears an animal shriek and sees a giant winged creature in the sky above her, The girl was found unconscious the next morning, the men chasing the girl haven't been identified or found, they could have been vamps, I guess, saw the creature and fled" She changed the screen to show a police incident report, "This might be unrelated but about 45 miles from here yesterday, an abandoned house just exploded, the cause is as of yet unexplained" Willow stated. Willow then showed a map of the area around Sunnydale, with the locations of the events plotted on it, a line was drawn through them, creating a perfect line to Sunnydale on the map.  
  
"It's a trail of breadcrumbs for us or maybe someone else to follow" Buffy remarked  
  
"Agreed, it does seem to have a plan already, we must attempt to find out what it is. It's too much of an assumption that it's just not very good at hiding" Giles added  
  
"Maybe its annoyed at the store closing, we should rebuild and open it, immediately!" Anya selfishly recommended.  
  
Everyone turned toward Anya, and many gave her 'the look'.  
  
"What?" she asked, unaware of how self-centred her suggestion was, as usual.  
  
Giles took off his glasses to give them a quick polish. "I think all we can do now is continue researching, Willow, keep trying to find out something, everyone else; books, except you Xander, Coffee, please."  
  
Xander straightened as everyone else returned to their respective research materials, and walked to the kitchen, and went about his task of making coffee for the gang. It was surprising to think how much a part coffee had played in the stopping of many apocalypses. Xander realised that if their actions were ever discovered and a statue of them made due to their achievements, it would have to have the man who first invented coffee somewhere in the background, or at least them all holding a cup of coffee. He could see it in his minds eye, battle axe in one hand, coffee in the other, the deadliest of demon hunters.  
  
Xander filled the kettle, and got out the mugs, he then leaned against the kitchen island and looked around idly while waiting for the water to boil, and he was lost in thought. He had things on his mind, or rather a person. After a while the kettle slowly began to steam, this roused Xander's attention enough that when he looked out the window he noticed a bird flying slowly close to the house, from behind the steam created by the kettle. The kettle switched itself off as it began to boil, and Xander picked it up and placed it by the mugs, as he had been so distracted, he had forgotten to put the coffee in the mugs ready, he sighed.  
  
As he crossed the kitchen he couldn't help but notice the bird near the house now took up most of the window. Xander froze as the creature flew at him at a high speed.  
  
Before he had mistaken it in the distance for a small bird near the house, now the creature was on top of him, it was dark grey skinned with silver and the wings and tail wing were a dark orange, it had a long horn on its head and a slender body, it had powerful looking hind legs tucked underneath its lower body, with silver claws. Although Xander did not see the sleek being in as much detail, as it was only in Xander's line of sight or a second or two, before it pulled up.  
  
Xander was relieved to see it fly over the house. For a second he was stunned, but he was used to shocks now, living in Sunnydale had that effect.  
  
"GUYS! It flew over the house! That.thing flew over the house!!" Xander called out but it was unnecessary, the others had already heard the displacement of air above the house, as the flying demon fought the momentum of gliding downwards so fast towards the house, had they seen it they would have seen how it had gracefully managed without even seeming to exerting itself. They all rushed for the front door, Xander arrived there last, just in time to see it flying off into the distance  
  
"It came right at the house like it was gonna' ram me!" Xander exclaimed the shock not yet worn off  
  
"That didn't look like a bird at all" Willow said from her place between Anya and Giles, mocking the reports of other sightings.  
  
"That looked like a dragon" Anya said the first intelligent thing that day, and all eyes turned from the clouds that the winged spectre had disappeared into.  
  
"Have your ever seen a dragon?" Buffy turned and asked Anya  
  
"Only demons in the form of dragons" Anya replied with some awe.  
  
"There's a difference?" Buffy asked  
  
"If that is a real dragon, we must hope we don't have to fight it, according to a legend I heard a long time ago, dragons are very, very, very, very, very rare, their rarity only matched by their power, Dragons aren't demons, they are in a class all of their own" Anya spoke, her voice a mixture of wonder, and fear, her eyes looking toward the sky.  
  
The whole gang was standing on the doorstep; dreading the further contact with the dragon, accept one.  
  
"Wow, do they really breathe fire?" Dawn asked, she had been asleep, woken by the commotion, but made it to the door to late to see the dragon fly off, with the sun gleaming off its skin.  
  
"If it holds true to legend, yes, and much more" replied Anya ominously.  
  
"What is this legend you heard Anya?" Giles curiously asked.  
  
"Apparently many thousand years before I became a vengeance demon, it was said that there was once a great civilisation, that was using dark magic's to take over the whole world, and according to the legend a dragon came and completely wiped out this advanced civilisation and their magic's" Anya recalled the legend from memory  
  
"These dragons sound incredibly powerful, if not even an entire civilisation of dark sorcerers could stop one, then we must pray that this dragon does not intend to challenge us." Giles said, yet again deciding that his lenses just weren't shiny enough for him, and began to clean them.  
  
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The rest of that day was spent researching dragons, the only progress made was finding demons resembling dragons, or that claimed to be dragons. Giles had phoned the watchers council to see if they had any information available on dragons, they had been surprisingly helpful; the talk of dragons intrigued them, especially after they were told of its supposed power. Giles had been reluctant at contacting them, but it was necessary, Giles had no knowledge in the area of dragons, they were just believed to be types of demons.  
  
However it was pointless, the council had only one resource worth mentioning, an ancient account of a similar dragon sighted near the site of the vampire army massacre of 459AD, a large group of vampires had spent a century building a huge army, a two vampire scouting group went of to scout the area ahead, and when they returned but half an hour later, all that was left of the army was dust and weapons, not a single human body, not a chip in any sword from battle. The only thing that told them a dragon had caused the destruction of the legion was that the vampires saw the dragon perched on the rocky hill, which housed the caves that the vampire army resided in during the daylight hours.  
  
But the dragon's description was vivid, it may have been a dragon similar to the one flying around Sunnydale, and possibly the same one, or it may not have been a dragon at all. After the shock of the encounter had worn off, Xander had been convinced by Giles to finish the coffee.  
  
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It was early evening when Buffy decided she would go and patrol, Giles had warned her to be extra careful, and to try and flee from the dragon if it attacked, and not to confront it.  
  
It was a humid summer night, although a slight breeze made the temperature quite pleasant, and the fresh smell of the outside, even in a graveyard, was a nice change from the reconditioned air in the house. Buffy had patrolled three cemeteries and not seen a single vamp, this was not an odd occurrence, but Buffy had seen two fresh graves that had obviously contained vamps, but the vamps that had just broke free were nowhere to be seen, and fledgling vamps rarely had the intelligence to steer clear of her, they were driven by their hunger.  
  
Buffy continued walking until she saw something on the ground; it was a cigarette end, one of Spikes brand, it was possible that somebody, most likely a guy due to the lack of lipstick on the cigarette, was walking through the graveyard smoking cigarettes, but her instincts told her otherwise. The cigarette was cold, it was dropped a while ago, Spike was probably long gone by now, perhaps hours ago but it had only been dark for a couple of hours. He couldn't get that far. Buffy decided that she should try to find Spike; he may be useful for his fighting skills, he may even know something about dragons, it was worth the effort, and it was a quiet night, and she was bored.  
  
Buffy had managed to follow Spike's trail of cigarette ends, he was smoking a lot more than usual it would seem, nicotine did effect vampires, the reason he smoked was more than just a look.  
  
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Buffy tracked Spike to a corner of the cemetery where even vamps rarely travelled, this cemetery was on the outskirts of town and this corner of the cemetery was nowhere near where people ever travelled.  
  
It was here she found an almost whole cigarette; Spike only dropped his smokes when he had to fight, or something needed attending to. Buffy looked up and saw a light in the bushes about 100 yards ahead, two in fact, the one on the left was dimmer though, it wasn't long before Buffy realised it was a car. She cautiously walked to the car, as she got closer; she noticed the smoke, coming from the car. The car had hit a tree, but not hard, near the left headlight, the fog light on the right was on, the fog light on the left was broken, the radiator was leaking water slowly. As she got to the bush and looked over she realised that something had happened there, what, she didn't know, but it had happened, and she had missed the show.  
  
The car had been almost ripped apart the doors torn off, windows smashed, inwards it would seem, the roof caved it, Buffy noticed the smoke from the engine, a closer inspection showed a hole in the hood, the metal bent inward, and scorched, it had been blown inward by a blast or something, not a strong demon smashing at it with a claw or fist. She look to the rear of the car, there where large gashes out of the trunk lid, they were unmistakeably claw marks, clean single strokes.  
  
Behind the car and up the hill to the small road at the top there were skid marks in the grass, but seemed fainter as they neared the cars current position, it appeared the car was not travelling fast when it hit the tree, so Buffy assumed the cars engine had been damaged by the look of the hole in the hood, it had then gone off the road. Buffy examined the seats inside the car for blood, there was none, but there was what appeared to be dust, perhaps vampire dust, she wasn't sure, it was mixed to badly with the shattered glass.  
  
On the dashboard behind the steering wheel Buffy noticed a piece of paper. Buffy picked it up and found this it was in fact a torn off part of Spikes cigarettes packet, on one side was the company logo and the inked packaging one would expect to find on the outside, on the other side was a quickly scribbled note in what appeared to be Spike's handwriting. It took Buffy a moment to read it but she eventually managed, Spikes old style handwriting was not what Buffy was used to reading, the note read: -  
  
"Slayer, I found the car earlier this evening; looks like you might need a hand taking out whatever did this. I checked around they were vamps driving, I smelt em', at least 4, they had a girl in the trunk, there's a little blood), but not that much, I think she got away, saw some footprints in the mud not far from the car, probably the girl's, looks roughly in the direction of town, she should make it ok, not many vamps out tonight. If you want my help, I'll be around the bronze till closing.  
  
Spike.  
  
Buffy also noticed the 'Check Oil' light was lit on the dashboard; it was more than likely that whoever had driven the car, would never check the oil again.  
  
Before leaving the car, Buffy put on a glove and switched off the car's headlights, the reason for wearing a glove was not to leave fingerprints for when the police found the car, and the headlights, to delay the police finding the car, if the girl in the trunk didn't report the incident when she got to town. There may be evidence on the car as to what attacked the vamps inside, and left the human girl to escape, evidence that she couldn't see, perhaps magical. If they had to come back later, it would be difficult if the police found the car and either removed it or had it under close watch.  
  
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Buffy considered the note, why had Spike cared about the girl being alive. 'Perhaps he's trying to convince me that he's changed again, or maybe just being useful, maybe he just thought I'd want to know' Buffy contemplated. 'Well I probably should go and see him; we might need his strength and fighting skills' Buffy continued to think as she walked to the Bronze. 'He's been keeping to himself, he's done that before when he's been up to something, and he may even be behind the appearance of this dragon' Buffy stopped when she heard rustling in the bushes nearby. Buffy drew her stake, and slowly crept up to the bush, ready to kill her first enemy that night. She slowly peered over the edge of the bush, and then jumped back in shock. The inspection of the scene behind the shoulder height plant, found Buffy in a difficult situation, when she found a young couple in there, 'having fun'. So Buffy decided to leave matters that were none of her business alone, and continued to the Bronze.  
  
'Hmm, it just doesn't seem like Spikes style, and he's been back a while already, long before the dragon arrived' Buffy became lost in her thoughts, as her feet took her automatically along the well known route to the club.  
  
Buffy arrived at the Bronze, a lot of past was connected with the place, and it had already been rebuilt once, and changed owners many times  
  
Buffy didn't make it to the door, before Spike stopped her; it was unusual for Spike to meet her outside, he was partial to his spicy chicken wings, which he usually made her buy him.  
  
Buffy's initial shock soon change to a new shock, Spike looked, different, he looked, depressed, would be a good word, Buffy could hardly believe the sadness in his eyes but she had seen it before, but couldn't remember where, she quickly shrugged it off, it wasn't the time or place  
  
"So you found that car then?" Spike asked already knowing the answer; however his voiced lacked some of the usual defiant tone.  
  
"I did, what do you know about it?" Buffy demanded, pretending not to notice the change in his voice.  
  
"Not much, luv, only that whatever did it was big, and was fast enough to catch up with the thing while it was speedin' down that road" Spike answered, Buffy sensed he wasn't hiding anything, she tried to tell herself that Spike was good at hiding things, that she should suspect him.  
  
"Have you watched the news lately?" Buffy asked the vampire.  
  
"No, I haven't even seen a telly for a while, I've been away" Spike replied "Why?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, knowing Buffy had asked for a reason.  
  
"Come back to the house, it would be an idea to let the whole gang tell you about it" Buffy said, and got up to walk back home. Spike didn't move.  
  
"Buffy?" Spike said softly, getting Buffy's attention.  
  
"What?" Buffy asked him, surprised by yet another anomaly in his voice.  
  
"Is it true what I heard?" he asked looking serious  
  
"Is what true?" Buffy wasn't sure what he was referring to.  
  
"What I heard about the wi-, I mean, Tara" Spike clarified, looking at her expectantly "she didn't cop it while I was gone did she?" Buffy was so saddened by his words, she didn't notice that he was half way to letting a tear fall.  
  
Buffy looked down, bad memories stirred "Yes it is true"  
  
"No." Spike looked down, and turned away, as the tear that threatened to fall, fell, followed shortly by its counterpart in his other eye, "I shouldn't have left I might have been able to stop her from dying" Spike looked ashamed by the way he hung his shoulders, he wiped away the tears before Buffy could see them.  
  
Buffy was unsure he was sincere in his emotion, but it seemed too real, she decided not to remark on his emotion being not real, but instead comfort him a bit, she looked back up at him.  
  
"There's nothing you could have done, she wasn't killed in a fight, or by a demon, not anything you could have protected her from, only a stray bullet in broad daylight, nothing even I could have protected her from" Buffy recounted the death of her friend.  
  
Spike sighed, "I suppos' not, but I could have killed the bastard whoever he was, before he could do it, that's what us vamps are good for." Spike seemed angered, that he hadn't killed the thing that killed Tara, shown it the pain and suffering he had inflicted on countless innocent people.  
  
"He was human, you couldn't have killed him" Buffy said simply  
  
"I could av' if I really tried" Spike responded truthfully, with enough willpower, it was possible, he could have done it.  
  
"Maybe but you wouldn't have known what he would do at that time, none of us knew" Buffy finished, her tone saying simply, 'It's not your fault; there is nothing you could have done'.  
  
Spike only nodded solemnly in response, after standing there for a while longer, for Spike to come to terms, and for Buffy to think about why he cared, Spike finally sighed, signalling he was ready to go.  
  
On their way back, they again passed the rustling bush. Buffy rolled her eyes, but Spike not knowing motioned for Buffy to stay while he checked it out. Buffy tried not to chuckle as Spike looked behind the bush and his eyes went wide, and he pulled back, and tried to creep away silently. The expression on his face was priceless, if vampires could blush, Spike would have. As an afterthought, Spike pulled off a 'Beware of Dog' sign on a nearby gate and hung it on the bush.  
  
"That'll make sure they're not disturbed" Spike whispered grinning at his ingenuity, Buffy just tried to stifle her laughter as much as possible.  
  
Spike was tempted to stay and see if his little plan worked, but decided he had better get to Buffy's house, something big was obviously going down.  
  
Spike's attention was distracted for a second, he could have sworn he saw something move in front of the moon for a split second, but decided he must have imagined it.  
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Ok people, R&R, I want some reviews before I continue, as I predict there is quite a bit more to do, and I don't want to continue if you all hate it so far. And NO flames, my review page is like a gas station, no smoking, open flames or mobile phones for that matter! And you had better switch off your engines too. :P Bad Grammer.FIXED.Mostly 


	3. Chapter 2: Research and Rescues

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy or its characters, the same for Panzer Dragoon Saga, the inspiration for this story  
  
Do They Really Breathe Fire?  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Xander stared down at his coffee mug, and knew that he would always remember the incident with the dragon that had happened earlier, whenever he drank coffee.  
  
It was a while since Buffy had left on patrol; the gang had been researching, but turned up nothing new yet.  
  
Willow had been trying to find reports of the dragon from further away, but it was useless, and the dragon wasn't likely to have come from the location of the first sighting, as it was a grouping of 2 or 3 farms, it's as if it had just appeared out of thin air.  
  
It had been suggested that a scooby be sent out of Sunnydale to look for evidence at the other sites the dragon had been spotted, but none of the gang volunteered; they all had the same reason, well except one. Anya didn't want to leave the shop alone, but everyone else didn't want to go because of being out of the way of the action, and not knowing what's going on. None of the team ever wanted to leave, in case they were needed.  
  
But if anyone was sent, it was likely to be Xander, as he was now the only Scooby with a car, Giles had his car shipped over to England with him, and couldn't afford to have it shipped back again.  
  
Xander would be sorry to miss the action, but he would mostly miss being there for Willow, and without him there, who was to stop her from becoming depressed again. The action might distract her though, he had thought.  
  
Xander decided he'd have to work things out when the time came; he was never one for forward planning, and living in Sunnydale, life was always that little bit too unpredictable to really be certain about the immediate future, today's surprise had been a little reminder of that, you couldn't make a cup of coffee and be sure you'll be alive to drink it.  
  
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Buffy and Spike neared the house, Spike had been unusually quiet, he was lacking his usual enthusiasm at the chance to fight, but as they were getting close he finally spoke again.  
  
"So is this something to do with the lack of nasty things in town the last couple weeks?" Spike asked breaking the silence  
  
"You noticed that as well" Buffy stated, "But no, something else.I think" she continued  
  
"Well something's going on, pet, there's less action in this town lately than a tea party, its like the hellmouths all dried up'" Spike stated his observations.  
  
"Well that can't be bad" Buffy replied  
  
"But you'll be out of a job there, love" Spike joked, but his face fell and he slowed as they approached the driveway, as if realising something he had forgotten, he hesitated.  
  
"Best check it out after we've finished with this thing though" Buffy chuckled  
  
Buffy hadn't noticed Spike had stopped, but when she did, she looked round, and saw a change in his features.  
  
"Are you sure you want me here, I don't think I'm very popular with the scoobies at the moment, maybe I should just go, and you can tell, me what you need me to do" Spike said already turning away.  
  
Buffy wasn't sure how to respond, Spike wasn't himself, that much was clear. He seemed different somehow. But Buffy couldn't let him go, it was better if he was present, she liked to tell herself that was the reason she wanted him there.  
  
"Spike we need you here, whether we like it or not" Spike stopped, he hung his head for a few seconds but finally turn round and caught up with Buffy, and she opened the front door, he let her in first.  
  
"Hey Buff" Xander called from the living room. He sounded fairly cheerful. It was like Xander to not let such a scare from earlier get him down.  
  
But his face dropped however, when he saw Spike following Buffy in.  
  
"What is he doing here?" Xander asked through partially gritted teeth.  
  
"He is here for the same reason the rest of us are" Buffy answered, implying that argument was pointless  
  
"Well as long as it's not a social call" Xander remarked as he sat down.  
  
Anya sat at the table and tried to hide her face in a book, looking awkward.  
  
Giles who, was sipping a coffee, and was obviously taking notes from the news reports about the dragon, which had become quite a local sensation, he didn't seem too bothered about Spikes presence, but was concentrating on the TV too much to really register what was going on.  
  
Xander was sat on the sofa next to Willow idly flicking through a book; willow was examining printouts, and occasionally glancing at her laptop, that was balanced on the arm of the sofa.  
  
Dawn was rummaging around in a large mountain of books in one corner of the room, though if you looked at it in another way it kind of looked like Dawn was building a fort out of the books.  
  
At that point the news report on the dragon finished, and by the look on Giles's face, he had decided there was nothing new worth mentioning. The news however was not over, and a new story started. And the Female presenter began reading.  
  
"In other news around the town of Sunnydale, the mysterious rise in seismic activity around Sunnydale has risen by 200% since yesterday, experts say if activity continues to rise at the speed it is now, the people of Sunnydale could be looking at minor earthquakes by the end of the week. Experts are still as baffled by the cause of the sudden jump in activity, but are asking residents of Sunnydale and the surrounding area not to panic, if seismic activity does threaten to rise to dangerous levels emergency services will begin evacuation of the town."  
  
All of the gang's attention, including Spikes had been caught by the TV news report. As if it hadn't been bad enough, they now had to worry about this.  
  
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The Gang had filled Spike in on the recent events, after they had finished, Spike had seemed to be lost in thought for a second, and then simply shrugged his shoulders.  
  
The others weren't surprised, but they were also confused, a lot of things just didn't add up.  
  
Spike then told them what he had noticed since he had got back, the lack of demons, and general feel of something big on the horizon.  
  
"It seems to me that things just aren't adding up, either we have 2 or 3 problems, or maybe it's all tried together in a larger plan. The dragon, the seismic activity, the lack of demons..." Giles observed.  
  
"We need more coffee" Xander decided, and seeing that no one was moving went to get up, only to see Spike heading into the kitchen. 'Maybe Buffy asked him to do it, oh well fine by me' Xander went back to his idle page browsing, while in actual fact, Buffy was as confused as him.  
  
A while after, the people that hadn't noticed Spike go out to make the coffee, which was everyone except Buffy and Xander, were surprised to see Spike walk back in with a tray load of coffee mugs. They all thanked Spike when he handed them each their coffee, despite their confusion, except Xander who just took it without looking at him.  
  
Giles was the first one to notice.  
  
"Spike, this is excellent coffee" Giles sounded surprised "mmm".  
  
The others who had not yet tried their coffee also found it surprisingly good, Xander was a little envious, but surprised none the less, it wasn't the instant coffee he had made.  
  
Spike looked a little embarrassed, he looked around and said. "The old ways are always the best"  
  
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Xander was in the driver's seat of his car, Giles had decided to collect some books from his place. Xander was now sitting and waiting for Giles to collect a few more books, Xander had helped him with most of them, but Giles said there was only a few he had forgotten, and didn't need any help getting them. So Xander stayed in his car.  
  
Xander looked into the sky, it was clear, and he could see the stars, it was now late evening, it had been hours since they had found anything  
  
It was at the moment Giles got in the Driver door and told Xander he had an idea.  
  
Well not so much told.  
  
"Drive to the bookstore, I need to buy some books" Giles half ordered  
  
"I don't think the Sunnydale bookstore will have the kind of books we need" Xander replied, wondering if the stress had finally driven Giles over the edge, climbing the stairs to Giles's apartment wasn't easy but it wasn't something that Xander would have though capable of turning Giles, the everlasting voice of reason, into a madman, 'Maybe they are cursed stairs' Xander pondered, it wouldn't be impossible. He'd have to have Willow look into it.  
  
"No I have an idea" Giles said simply  
  
"Whatever you say G-man, as long as I'm not paying" Xander said while starting the engine and driving off toward the town centre. 'Trust Sunnydale to have a bookshop that is open till 12'. Xander thought  
  
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Xander pulled his car up in front of the bookstore, Giles got out and Xander followed after locking the car doors. Giles had been to the bookshop before, Xander hadn't, and most of the reading material he owned was mail order and mostly consisted of pictures. Except for one he had purchased recently.  
  
After entering the shop, Xander followed Giles, who seemed to know where he was going, and walked past the desk, to the back of the store, up the stairs to the upper level, and then went from the stairs to near the back of the upper section.  
  
Xander glanced at the sign above the isle, it said 'Legends and Mythology', Xander began to realise why Giles had come here, and what he intended to buy, and sure enough, Giles searched the shelves for all he could find on dragons.  
  
Giles finished up with 7 books; Xander carried them for Giles to the desk, where Giles paid for them.  
  
While he wrote out a check, Xander decided to check out the second hand books bin, a bin full of people's books they no longer wanted and left them here, and anyone who wanted one could by it for 20 cents out of the bin. It was piled high with books of all kinds, but almost all were scruffy, and falling apart. There were children's books, many different works of fiction, a selection of gardening books, an encyclopaedia, with about half the pages missing, and a few factual books on different topics, Xander was sure that if he looked long and hard enough in the huge bin of books, he would find something he would buy, but he lacked to time, and the patience to even bother trying.  
  
But as he turned away, his eyes caught something, a glint of gold, he turned back round, and saw it again, and he tracked down the source. A tiny book, about the size of a passport and about as thick as three. It had a decorative golden front, the bright reflection of light made it so he couldn't make out the picture, and had its cover made out of the same leathery stuff some of their oldest books that they used for research had. Xander opened it and saw the brown pages and letters that Xander didn't recognise, but he didn't have time to look closely, Giles was finished with his transaction, and was now picking up the books.  
  
On impulse Xander dug in his pocket and found about 25 cents in change as Giles was struggling with the door Xander gave the girl on the till 20 cents for the book and then stuck it in his pocket, it fit quite easily. He figured if nothing else it would be something Willow would be interested in  
  
Xander then went to help Giles with the door. Once out the store, Xander jogged up to the car and unlocked the doors while Giles made his way steadily toward the car with the books in his arms.  
  
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Back at the Summers residence, the rest of the gang continued research, Willow was still working on her computer, Buffy was studying a map Willow had printed out of the seismic activity, Dawn was watching the TV, which wasn't really research but nobody seemed to care, Spike was reading through some books, and Anya was cooking a little midnight snack for them all.  
  
None of them knew what it was but it smelled good, but Spike was getting hungry, and no matter how good Anya's cooking was wouldn't satisfy his hunger, simply because, he was a vampire.  
  
A vampire hiding a soul, so that the people he had wronged wouldn't take pity on him, he didn't deserve it, but he was beginning to doubt he could keep it up, Buffy had already begun to see through him. But still a vampire and he needed blood, and since he didn't have any, he would have to get some from the butchers.  
  
"If you don't mind, I'll be headin' down to the vampires take away, I'm a tad peckish" Spike said as he slipped on his leather duster he had removed a while before, and left on the back of the chair he was sitting on. If he had of mentioned it directly, they would have been repulsed, he didn't want to put them off their own food.  
  
They were expecting Giles and Xander to be back at any second, they had been gone a while. Spike headed for the front door, and opened it, closing it behind him, as he walked out the door, down the driveway, and towards the nearest butchers. He knew the route well from his late nights standing out the front Buffy's house.  
  
He had been walking away from the house for a few short seconds, when the pavement around him lit up, steadily getting brighter, and the telltale noise of a car engine, Spike recognised the engine sound, it was that of Xander's car, the engine had acquired a personalised noise as it had begun to show its age.  
  
Spike had decided to leave Xander alone; he had the most hatred toward him, and with good reason, apologising would serve only to annoy the boy more. So he continued walking, as he heard the car stop, the engine die, and the doors opening.  
  
The night was warm, for most people wearing leather would have been too hot, but for Spike, it was fine, his body being colder than a normal human.  
  
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Xander and Giles had spent several minutes unpacking the books from the car, the heavy books requiring more than one trip. Xander had noticed the figure walking away from the house as they approached, he couldn't say he was sad to see Spike leaving, although he didn't doubt he would be coming back.  
  
Xander began to think, he had always hated the vampires that had ever been on their side, at first it had just been because he felt uncomfortable with them near his friends, when he and Willow had first met Buffy; their best friend had been sired by a vamp. It had a big affect on Xander, to have his best male friend become a monster, and turn against him and Willow. He was told that it was because being a vampire made the person evil, and this is why he first disliked Angel, it went against that theory, he had feared he would turn on them. Then after Angel went evil and hurt Buffy, he had a whole new reason to hate them he had been starting to trust Angel, and he had betrayed them. Then if all this wasn't enough, Spike had then kidnapped Willow and himself, which had hit him again in tender area, and had not technically caused the pain and hurt caused when Oz and Cordelia had found them kissing, but Xander found it easier to blame Spike for it. And then the two latest incidents that had taken place had just added icing to the cake, Spike had tried to rape Buffy, and also had sex with his ex- girlfriend in her depression.  
  
Xander was not happy about leaving Spike with his friends while he had gone to take Giles to collect the books, but he knew that Buffy would make sure Willow and the others were ok, had it just been Willow, he would have never left her alone with him.  
  
Xander had an odd feeling for a second, as if he was realising something about what he was thinking, but his thoughts were shattered by Giles closing the trunk of the car, he had been standing there with an armful of books he had been meaning to carry inside for several minutes.  
  
For a second Giles looked slightly surprised, he hadn't noticed him standing there, but he shook it off as being nothing. "You didn't have to wait for me" Giles laughed as he made his way to the door, and Xander quickly followed. Inside the house, Xander's senses immediately picked up the scent of Anya's cooking  
  
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Spike listened, holding his plastic bag filled with pig's blood still, so it wouldn't rustle. He had been sure he had heard a noise, not just any noise either, the sound of a punch, the sound of knuckles being forced into soft flesh, shortly followed by the sound of a body falling to the ground. But no cry for help...  
  
Spike had been lost in thought, but now he was alert, waiting for another sound so he could pinpoint where the first had come from, it came a second or two later, another hard thump, and a sharp exhaling of air, it sounded like a kick to the victim's ribs. Again, no cry for help.  
  
Spike knew where it was coming from now, a dark alley across the street, the old him wouldn't have cared, but the soul he had been given made him drop his bag, and run to help whoever was being beaten. However his soul had not made him stupid, as he came round the corner, he used cat like stealth, peering round the edge of the building on one side of the alley, to survey the situation.  
  
Lying on the ground was a young woman, she didn't look conscious. Above her stood a man, looked to be in his early thirties, a bottle in his hand, any idiot could see he was drunk, and Spike could smell the drunkenness from merely approaching the alley.  
  
If the man were a vamp, it would be no problem for spike to take him out, even though Spike wasn't at his best. But he was human, a poor excuse for one, but a human nonetheless, Spike sighed, he was going to get a headache...  
  
Spike stepped confidently into the dimly lit alleyway, he felt no fear for himself, but worried for the girl lying helpless on the floor by the irrational and inebriated man. The man kicked the girl again; he didn't notice Spike till he was standing right by him, when he did he looked surprised for a second, then swore, and took a lazy swing at Spike with his free hand.  
  
Spike had dodged punches thrown by many slayers, in comparison, the slow drunken punch was nothing for him to avoid, the swift vampire simply moved his head backwards, causing the drunk to overbalance and fall forward.  
  
The drunken fool landed badly, not having the senses to even realise he was falling until it was too late to make an attempt to soften the fall. Spike felt no pain for the act, he had never touched the man, so the chip, however it worked, knew he was not responsible.  
  
The man stayed down on the floor for a while, but was still angry, and while slow, still managed to get up. Once up, the man swayed on his feet for a second, then began using the mostly empty bottle as a weapon, swinging it at Spike like a bat.  
  
It wasn't hard for Spike to avoid the swings, by moving back each time. Not a single of the pitifully inaccurate swings touched him. Spike was wondering how he was going to take the man out, and decided in knocking him out in one blow would have to be the way, even though it would hurt him to, a lot.  
  
The next time the man swung, Spike grabbed his arm he was using to swing the bottle with, and in one quick movement, pulled the bottle from the mans hand and forced him against the wall, then brought the bottle down on the mans head, the blow positioned with seasoned accuracy so that the man would be knocked out for a while, yet have no lasting damage.  
  
The bottle smashed  
  
The man fell limp  
  
Spike closed his eyes and grabbed at his head  
  
...but there was no pain  
  
As the ring of the bottle smashing slowly faded into nothing, leaving an eerie silence, Spike opened his eyes, slowly lowering his hands  
  
He looked around, the alley was empty, the drunk, and the woman were gone. Even the shattered pieces of the bottle were nowhere to be seen.  
  
The area around Spike was completely deserted, but he still had the feeling something was watching him.  
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Ok, that was the end of chapter 2, what did you all think? Review! =) 


	4. Chapter 3: Head Trauma and Destiny

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy or its characters, the same for Panzer Dragoon Saga, the inspiration for this story  
  
Do They Really Breathe Fire?  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Willow sat looking at the screen of her laptop, while eating a bowl of the lasagne Anya had made. No wonder it had smelled good, it was good, no one was expecting Anya to make such an elaborate midnight snack, although, truth be told, dinner had kind of been skipped.  
  
She stole a glance around the room; Buffy was seated in a chair eating her meal while leafing through an old book, over at the table. Giles and Xander were looking through the books they had bought from the bookstore, casually chatting about them.  
  
Her gaze lingered on Xander, as it always did. Since he left on his road trip, their friendship had begun to diminish, the thing they had for a short while had hurt them both and after it was over, the guilt had made her choose Oz over him, she regretted that decision for a while, until she met Tara. While Xander was hardly about, Tara filled the hole, and she hadn't realised. After Tare was killed, she had noticed how it had been Xander to rescue her, to save her, to save the world. And after that, although the others had surprised her by being there for her, despite her actions, he was the one there the most.  
  
Their friendship wasn't what it once was, because whenever they came close to recovering it, the feelings came back, the ones that had begun to develop long before they met Buffy. The feeling that had not just appeared, but slowly developed over time, growing out of their friendship like a plant out of soil.  
  
During the month since her rampage, Willow had realised many things, one of them being that she still had feelings for him, but what they were, she had no idea.  
  
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Buffy looked up from her book, yet again all the words had blended into one and become a blur.  
  
Although she had become used to the long periods they spent on research, she still had her limits, it had been a long day, and the books had been even less helpful than usual.  
  
Her attention was caught by a laugh at the table; apparently it was one of the rare occasions that Giles and Xander both found something funny.  
  
Buffy smiled at it, but then noticed she wasn't the only one, Willow was also gazing with a smile on her face, but it was less an amused smile, but more a look of someone having a pleasant day dream. She was a little surprised; she hadn't expected to see that look on Willow's face for a while.  
  
Willow soon snapped out of it, and turned away back to her laptop, Buffy felt left out that she didn't know what Willow had been thinking about, but felt happy that her friend had good thoughts on her mind.  
  
Buffy looked at the clock, it was half past twelve, Dawn had gone to bed already, and Anya had cleared up in the kitchen and gone home Spike had been gone for about 40 minutes, he usually took about half an hour to get blood, she wondered what could be keeping him.  
  
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Spike had been searching the area for several minutes, not quite registering what had happened. Whatever that was...  
  
The feeling of being stared upon faded, and the dark street, that had been completely deserted, 'felt' normal. Even a group of men, probably on their way home, past by the alley laughing and joking about the nights activities, as Spike shook his head, waited for the group to pass, then went to pick up his bag of discarded blood.  
  
Then it started  
  
At first a distant rumbling, then the ground beneath Spike's feet began to shake violently.  
  
Nearby windows shattered, and after a few seconds a huge crack blasted open in front of Spike, effectively cutting the street in half. The side he was on began to rise, out of the crack there was a fiery red light.  
  
The light got brighter, and the quaking of the earth intensified, building on the street were beginning to crumble, but then, as quickly as it had come, the earth calmed, and the light from deep in the crack faded to nothing, leaving the sound of car alarms going off.  
  
Spike had excellent balance, but even he had to pick himself up off of the floor, he had fallen in some broken glass from a nearby window, his duster protected from a lot of the shards, but his unprotected hand that had been holding the bag of pigs blood had a shard imbedded in the back of it.  
  
With a quick motion Spike tore it out of his flesh, and threw it aside, the bloody glass hitting the wall and breaking into smaller pieces. Blood dripped from the cut to the ground, staining some of the splintered glass red. Spike didn't show much pain from the act, he was used to more.  
  
Spike walked up to the crack that looked as if a giant had pulled the street in half. He peered into the deep divide, the strange light from before had gone, leaving only darkness  
  
It was time to go, Spike could hear the sirens, and he picked up his bag of blood and began half running back to the house.  
  
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Irony is a funny thing; it makes bad things worse, and can make them funny in a way even the most upbeat of people can't laugh at.  
  
Xander had been leaning back on his chair when the ground began to shake, seconds before he had heard a slight rumble.  
  
He tried to steady himself, but it was too late, he heard willow shout, as he flew backwards, felt a sharp pain in his skull, and his world go black.  
  
The last thing he heard, we his name being called, but even that sounded miles away, and like it was moving even further from him.  
  
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Willow tried to make it over to Xander while the floor continued to shake, she made it half way before the shaking abruptly stopped, and Willow was confused for a second, but snapped out of it fast and dropped down on her knees beside Xander.  
  
A puddle of blood was forming around his head, and Willow wasn't dumb, she could see her was out cold, and needed medical attention. By this time the others had reached Xander as well.  
  
"We need to get him to a hospital" Willow cried half hysterical.  
  
"I'll call an ambulance" Buffy jumped up from her kneeling position near Xander, and ran off to the phone on the table near the front door.  
  
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Spike burst into the front door, running straight into the living room, and was shocked at seeing Xander lying on the ground, a towel soaking up blood that was obviously coming from his head. He had willow on her knees by his head, and Giles was checking his pulse. Willow was constantly talking to him, trying to get a response  
  
Looking off to his right he saw Buffy on the phone, Spike would have put money on who she was calling, if he'd of had any.  
  
Buffy put the phone down and ran past Spike into the living room, where Xander had fallen, Spike followed her in.  
  
Buffy spoke to willow and Giles, but Willow's pleading with Buffy more than Giles, he looked more bewildered, "The hospital says that they are getting a lot of calls because of that sudden earthquake, and the ambulance is going to be a while, so they say we have to---" She's cut off by Spike.  
  
"Oh for bloody 'ell sake, I'll take him!"  
  
He goes to Xander, digs into his jacket pocket and gets out his car keys, holds them in his teeth, and then gently lifts Xander in his arms. Willow stands up with them, and holds the towel to his head.  
  
"Ma goor, maaa gorrr! Spike tries to say, Buffy stares blankly for a second, but Giles understood and opened the front door, and then motioned for Buffy to hold the door, while he takes the keys from Spikes mouth and opens up the doors of the car.  
  
Spike carefully laid Xander down in the back of the car; Willow moved around to the other side and sat in the back with Xander, trying to control the bleeding as much as possible. Spike then closed the door, Willow closed hers, and Spike then snatched the keys from Giles, and jumped into the driver's seat, and closing the door in one swift action.  
  
A few long seconds later while Spike found the right key, the car started up, Spike put it in fear and began backing it down the driveway, the wheels skidding. At the end of the driveway, he spun the car round, and then as he was about to pull away, the car stalled.  
  
"For bloody hell's sake boy! Can't you have a better car!?" Spike shouted as he restarted the car, and was a little gentler at speeding away from the house  
  
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"Why was Spike so eager to help?" Giles pondered while cleaning his glasses.  
  
"I don't know, but I'm glad he helped, even if it was out of character" Buffy said while putting some cleaner on the blood soaked carpet. Over the years she had been a slayer, she had learned which cleaner was best at removing blood stains.  
  
"What if he takes them somewhere and kills them rather than take them to the hospital?" Giles asked morbidly  
  
"He can't because of his chip remember?" Buffy replied, "And besides, I don't think so, he seemed genuine enough, even if he has been acting kind of odd lately" Buffy though to herself. Giles just stared distantly the way he did when he was perplexed for a moment.  
  
"Oh well, Willow is a powerful witch, she can handle it if anything goes wrong" Buffy went back to the stain.  
  
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"I'm useless I can't do anything!" Willow cried to herself for not being able to help Xander  
  
"Your not, love, your helping him, and we'll get to the hospital soon" he said accelerating the already pushed car a little faster.  
  
The irony of this situation was not lost on Spike; he had been plagued by his memories a lot lately, and the one that came up to the surface then, was the one of him kidnapping Willow and Xander, in an attempt to get Drusilla back.  
  
Xander had been lying unconscious then too.  
  
He had heard there had been a commotion when they had been found. Something he had noticed about the two of them when he had kidnapped them was their scent on each other, Spike not being able to keep up with them in those days figured they were finally dating, and he had intended to let them go when Willow had done the spell, he was a bit of a softy when it came to love, even as a vampire.  
  
But the next time he saw them, that had changed, and their friendship had seemed to go downhill, and before Tara's death it was quite bad, but after she died, they had got really close again.  
  
'At least something good came out of that; I just hope that they finally get it together' Spike thought to himself, as he pushed the car a bit faster, hoping that the engine wouldn't fall out.  
  
He could hear Willow in the back still talking to Xander, pleading him to wake up; a month ago he would have laughed at her distressed voice. Now it just gave him a dull ache in his heart.  
  
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The blackness around him seemed alive, moving, crawling around him, Xander felt dizzy, but couldn't see anywhere to sit, as the ground he was standing on too seemed to be moving. It was like standing on a carpet that was alive, crawling along.  
  
"Oh god, this is the worst feeling ever" He said queasily, starting to feel sick, his voice echoed seemingly forever.  
  
Then the darkness began so cease moving, and finally stopped altogether, after the uneasiness faded away from Xander's stomach, he became more adventurous, he looked around him, but found only black, he knelt down and touched the floor, it had no texture like wood, or metal, it just felt smooth, and slightly warm, in fact, for such a dark cold looking place, it wasn't cold at all, nor was it hot, it was in-between, comfortable, but as bland as the blackness around him.  
  
"Helloooooooo!?" He called, nothing but a long echo, so after waiting a few seconds, began a hesitant stop forward, when he didn't fall through the 'floor' he took another, and another, until he was walking forward, the panic of his situation getting to him, it was like being trapped in a box, though he could move the darkness closed in around him like a fist.  
  
Xander tried to think of positive things to keep himself calm, he remembered the time he and Willow had been at her house having a sleepover when they were about six, and had trekked around in the darkness of the house in the middle of the nigh, and how she'd got scared and had been holding on to him for dear life, then when they had gotten lost in the dark, they had found a corner and decided to sleep there. Willow's mother had found them the next morning fast asleep in a corner in the living room, with Willow in Xander's arms.  
  
A small smile made its way to his face, as he remembered Willow, but was shaken out of his thoughts by a voice, unbeknownst to Xander; it was the same voice Buffy had heard in her dream.  
  
"Hello Xander" The voice said calmly, coming from everywhere but not booming loud.  
  
"What!?" Xander exclaimed, startled  
  
"Do you remember me?" The voice asked  
  
Xander just stood there blank faced  
  
"Of course you do not; I have been with you for years, since your birth" The voice stated.  
  
"What, why?" Xander asked confused.  
  
"I left the answers in the place you found them, but they seem to have slipped your mind, remember." The voice said  
  
With that, the darkness began to fade to a light  
  
"I will grant you the use of our powers, however, you must learn to use them, and I will ensure that they do not harm your friends by accident while you do so. Some will be obvious, others may take years to discover, use them well. The upcoming test is only the beginning" The voice says, starting to sound distant  
  
The new brightness began to eat away at the black.  
  
"One last thing before we next speak, a dark force has been strangling the connection between you and your soul mate. Your determination thus far has stopped it being severed completely, but now with your powers, and the protection they bring, the dark entity can no longer play your lives, the havoc it has brought upon you has made it grow strong from your suffering, now it has been cut off it may appear in the flesh, it is the only way it can still harm you, and your friends."  
  
The white light continued to consume the dark; before the darkness is completely gone the voice spoke a final time.  
  
"Farewell.."  
  
Xander had to strain to her the voice the final time, the last traces of black from his surroundings disappeared and then huge blobs of colour began to arrear in the brightness, then the blobs began to take shape...  
  
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Willow watched as Xander lay in the hospital bed, the doctor had said that he had just been knocked out, and the loss of blood wasn't too bad, they just had to wait for him to wake up.  
  
Which he was that very moment, his eyes opened, slowly getting focus, Willow didn't notice this. She had a hold of his hand and was staring at it.  
  
"Please wake up Xander.Please" She pleaded, a tear just making it out her right eye, and began rolling down her cheek. "I need to know your okay." she said.  
  
"I'm awake" Xander said, slightly horse, his voice also heavy with sleep.  
  
Willow jerked her head up, shocked, then a smile spread across her face, she quickly hugged him. "Xander!!" She cried, "Don't scare me like that!"  
  
At that moment Spike walked into the room holding a cup of coffee for Willow, at seeing Xander awake and Willow half on top of him, he did a 180 and walked back out the door, unseen by Willow, but brought back memories for Xander.  
  
"I had the strangest dream Will" he said  
  
"What happened in it" Willow asked him  
  
"Well it started off like the worlds worse rollercoaster, and then some weird voice spoke to me" Xander told her  
  
"What did the voice say?" Willow asked, interested  
  
Xander sighed "I'll tell you later, right now, let's get out of here" Xander said lying there with Willow embracing him a few seconds longer, before starting to get up, which was a lot easier than he expected, its as if he weighed nothing, he guessed it was because he was disorientated.  
  
"Are you ok?" Willow asked him seeing him almost overbalance  
  
"Yeah I'm fine" Xander said, as Spike re-entered the room  
  
"Oh, we're leaving already" Spike asked?  
  
"That's right lets go and get Xander checked out" Willow said smiling, she was happy to have her friend back  
  
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On the roof of the hospital the dragon stood, its wings folded to its side.  
  
It opened its eyes, which glowed a deep yellow, seeing through the night sky. It then spread its wings and tail, and took off, beating its wings slowly, rising steadily from the building, then darting off into the night sky.  
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Well there is the long awaited Chapter 3  
  
Special thanks to Ravyn for her pushing me to finish this chapter.  
  
Please read and review! =) 


	5. Chapter 4: Battles and Surprises

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy or its characters, the same for Panzer Dragoon Saga, the inspiration for this story  
  
Do They Really Breathe Fire?  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Xander sat in the back of his car; while Spike drove the doctors had said he was not allowed to drive, because they had given him some painkillers.  
  
"I still don't see how its safer letting HIM drive!" Xander moaned  
  
"Hey, your forgetting I was the one that drove you here, whelp" Spike retorted seeming a little put out that he hadn't got any gratitude for his efforts, even though he knew he didn't deserve any.  
  
"Oh and that was so much safer than leaving me on the floor to bleed to death, I just got lucky" Xander spat back  
  
Willow thought it was best to break them up at that point "Xander enough. If it wasn't for Spike you might be dead, at least let him drive in peace"  
  
Xander look a little put out, but quieted down, he had always hated when Willow was upset with him.  
  
The car turned down a small dark road, which was strange because there weren't any small, dark roads where they were going.  
  
"I hate to embarrass myself totally, but... I'm lost" Spike spoke, the car slowing slightly as Spike lost his bearings.  
  
As they continued down the road, it merged into a dirt trail, the trees around them got taller, thicker, and denser.  
  
"What the bloody.hell? Spike slowed the car to a crawl, and looked confused out the windows.  
  
"How did you managed to get us lost in Sunny-WHAT THE!?!" Xander stared out the window "where the hell are we?" he asked  
  
"How the bloody hell would I know? I was just turning down the street to the house, and, here we are." Spike motioned out to the odd scenery  
  
"We should go back, figure out this strangeness later." Willow said, sounding baffled.  
  
"She's right, turn around" Xander said while still staring out of the windows, looking around the car as if looking for something about to jump out.  
  
"No argument from me" Spike said while pulling the car around in a half circle, and began driving back the way they had come from.  
  
After heading in that direction for a few minutes, it became obvious that the road was not going to change back into the familiar one that they had all travelled many times.  
  
Spike pulled the car back to a stop, "This ain't working" Spike grumbled.  
  
"Maybe we should turn back the other way?" Willow suggested, although odd situations were not new to Willow, getting lost had always been one of her fears.  
  
"Yeah, maybe she's right, turn us back around" Xander told Spike more than asked.  
  
Spike turned the car around without a word, and then steadily drove along the bumpy path. He wouldn't admit it, but he didn't want to bump Xander about too much after his fall.  
  
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A figure sat in the branches of the tree, watching the car go back in the direction of the demon's lair that the figure knew was there.  
  
'The demon is more powerful than I thought, instead of taking corporeal form; it's transferred them back in time to a point where it had a body. It was smart enough to get the Slayer out of the way, but it still doesn't know about his powers. yet, neither does the boy..' the man though to himself, and jumped down from the tree.  
  
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"What's that?" Willow asked pointing to some objects up ahead  
  
"Look like horse drawn carts" Spike said with confusion in his voice, an eyebrow cocked  
  
As they neared the gathering of carts, they noticed that there was no sign of life, the horses were long gone. They had just been left in the middle of the road, for no apparent reason.  
  
Spike pulled the car up, by the side of the dirt trail.  
  
"I'm gonna go take a look" Spike announced and got out of the car, and began walking the few feet towards the nearest of the previously horse powered vehicles.  
  
Xander decided to get out for a look also, and Willow followed, getting out of the car, they followed Spike.  
  
After walking past several, they came to see a large hole in the middle of the road. Spike stepped up to the hole and peered in, he couldn't see the bottom of the cavernous tunnel.  
  
Spike turned to Willow and Xander, who stood side-by-side a small distance away, he shrugged.  
  
Then the ground began to shake and a deep roar was heard, and out of the hole shot a pillar of deep green.  
  
The green pole then bent down, showing that at its top was a head, with a long mouth, spikes, and a pair of horn, bent forward, similar to a bull's horns, but straight forward rather than curving out then inwards.  
  
After staring at them for a second, long clawed arms poked out from holes in its body, both sides having four.  
  
It swung one at Spike, who had not had time to move back, the force knocked him into one of the abandoned carts, which broke apart with the force.  
  
Xander and Willow ran back, Xander narrowly escaping a swipe of the creatures claws, another cart was not so lucky, the monsters claw cut through it like a boiling hot knife through butter.  
  
Spike managed to pick himself up, only to see the creature attacking again.  
  
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Buffy sat on the couch, she was wondering where they had got to; Willow had called her when they had both got to the hospital, and when they had left. They should have been back.  
  
Dawn sat the other side of the couch to Buffy, looking far more impatient.  
  
"Where are they, is Spike driving like an old woman?" Dawn asked Buffy.  
  
Buffy just looked at her with a 'You expect me to know1?' look.  
  
Giles walked into the room, his hair wet from taking a shower, his shirt still stained with Xander's blood, but his hands now clean.  
  
"Still no more news?" Giles asked  
  
"Willow called while you were in the shower, they are on their way, but they're taking their time" Buffy replied, Giles looked thoughtful, before walking over to the window, and peering out from behind the curtain, it was early morning, the sun just beginning to hint that it was rising, they should be in bed.  
  
"You two can retire for the night, I'll wait up for them to get back" Giles suggested  
  
"Nah, I wanna see them get back, but, Dawn? Bed" Buffy said, ending with an order to Dawn, suggesting that argument would be pointless.  
  
So Dawn gave a sigh, got up, and made her way up the stairs, on her way calling out "Goodnight".  
  
Giles then sat in the space on the couch previously occupied by Dawn, and they both watched the news report on the earthquake currently on the TV.  
  
"-town Sunnydale was hit by an earthquake just over four hours ago, the rise in seismic activity that has been going on the past week was not expected to produce such quakes at this time. Scientists say the seismic activity is less predictable than they expected, and it is likely that Sunnydale will be evacuated starting tomorrow, and a short feature on what to do in an earthquake to remain safe will follow this report. Authorities say, 'stay alert, and be ready to be evacuated tomorrow, pack only the essentials'. For now, have a good morning." After that the presenter faded out, and the short program on earthquakes started, but Giles and Buffy weren't interested, and only gave each other a look.  
  
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Willow and Xander hid behind one of the remaining carts, while Spike made some attempt at fighting the demon, but was mostly trying his best to avoid its clawed arms, he already had a gash in his right arm.  
  
"Can you whip up some magic?" Xander asked  
  
"I'll give it a try" Willow closed her eyes  
  
Just then the beast flipped the cart that Willow and Xander were hiding behind over, they scattered, but Willow trapped herself in-between the tipped over cart, and another nearby one.  
  
The large monolith swung at Willow, she managed to dodge, but the arm hit her on the way up, knocking her down  
  
The creature prepared another swing, which would surely kill her  
  
Xander saw it, he knew he had to do something, he began running toward her, as he did, he felt a strange surge of energy everything but him became slow motion, he ran at what he perceived as normal speed toward Willow, a new instinct taking ever.  
  
He dived in front of Willow, held up his arm in a protecting stance; a curved wall of red light appeared  
  
The creatures arm hit the wall with a tremendous force, but it held strong, even though the force of the blow was heard hitting it, and the vibrations felt through the ground.  
  
The creatures arm flew back, and it roared in pain, Xander lowered his arm, the red, curved wall of light disappeared, he held out his hand, a light appeared in it, a yellow light, it grew until it was the size of his palm, then he wound up and pitched it as if playing baseball.  
  
The light spread out into a wall of flame, hitting the creature full on, it roared in pain again and again as the flames disintegrated it, its ashes falling to the ground.  
  
All that remained was some of the green titan's body sticking out the cavernous hole, charred and smouldering, smoke rising in trails slowly, the echoes of its roar, slowly dying, far off in the distance.  
  
Spike looked over at him from where he was standing, a look of confusion on his face, Willow looked up at him as she stood, open mouthed.  
  
Xander's look of determination itself began to slowly change to confusion, as realization came to him.  
  
After a long pause, Spike finally spoke.  
  
"What the Bloody hell was THAT!?"  
  
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Read and Review, yeah, that's what you gotta do! 


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